The invention relates to a method of managing a personal log of events containing events recorded by an operating activity being executed on a perimeter of computer resources configured on a multiple-cell computer platform.
More precisely, the method relates to multiple-cell computer platforms having a plurality of distinct computer resource perimeters that can be activated on the platform in succession or simultaneously.
At present, one of the directions in which hardware and/or computer systems are progressing lies in maximizing the flexibility of configurable computer resources to the benefit of a user having considerably smaller computer resources available locally.
In present configurable or reconfigurable computer systems, as shown in FIG. 1, use is made of a multiple-cell platform PF of computer resources. The multiple-cell platform PF comprises a plurality of calculation cells Ckj each comprising at least one central processor unit and local working memories, including a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). The working memories in each of the cells are suitable in particular for containing an event log in which there are recorded events that have taken place during the operation of the cell or of a group of cells. By way of example, these events can be hardware incidents or alarms that occur during operation of the cell, or they can be events that are recorded by an operating system as it executes on said cell. Such an event log is also referred to as a system event log (SEL).
In configurable or reconfigurable systems of the kind shown in FIG. 1, there are resources which are common to all of the cells of the platform. These common resources include mass memories, and in particular system hard disks and data hard disks. Data disks contain applications software (commonly referred to as xe2x80x9capplicationsxe2x80x9d) comprising computer programs to be executed and/or data to be processed. Each disk system has an operating system suitable for managing the hardware resources of a cell or of a group of cells. In particular, each operating system is suitable for managing the event log of the cell or the group of cells on which it is executed. By way of example, in FIG. 1, the common resources comprise a data disk DD1 containing an application L1, a system disk DS1 containing an operating system OS1, a data disk DD2 containing an application L2, and a system disk DS2 containing an operating system OS2.
In the context of configurable or reconfigurable systems, the term xe2x80x9coperating activityxe2x80x9d applies to all of the software means needed to implement a function that a user of the system seeks to achieve. Examples of such functions include, for example: drawing up pay sheets and generating lists of customers to be contacted. An activity thus includes at least one operating system suitable for managing the hardware resources of the platform. The function desired by the user is generally not performed by the operating system alone, and an operating activity commonly includes, in addition, one or more applications for execution on the operating system to perform the function(s) desired by the user. In this case, an activity A1 comprises the application L1 and the operating system OS1.
To maximize flexibility in such systems, common resources are connected to the platform PF via addressable interconnection means MI implementing a storage area network (SAN) architecture. The interconnection means MI are designed to give access to the common resources from any one of the cells or from any group of cells configured on the platform PF. Thus, a data disk may be accessed from a cell Ckj in a given configuration of the platform PF, and subsequently by a cell Ckj+1 in the context of a different configuration of the platform. Such interconnection means MI are therefore suitable for enabling all of the cells of the platform to access the common resources without that requiring any kind of rewiring operation.
Finally, configurable or reconfigurable computer systems also comprise a management tool MT enabling a user to group computer hardware resources together as xe2x80x9cperimetersxe2x80x9d of computer resources Pi for executing operating activities Ai. Each perimeter Pi is made up of a group of cells Ckj and a fraction of the common resources such as a data disk and at least one system disk. In such systems it is possible to define a plurality of perimeters Pi. For example, in FIG. 1, two perimeters P1 and P2 have been configured, both of which are configured to execute activity A1. The perimeter P1 as outlined in dotted lines comprises a first group of cells, the data disk DD1 and the system disk DS1. The perimeter P2, as outlined in dot-dashed lines, comprises a second group of cells different from the first group of cells, the data disks DD1, and the system disk DS1.
When two perimeters such as the perimeters P1 and P2 in FIG. 1 share common hardware resources, such as the same system disk, in this case DS1, they must be configured in succession on the same platform. Otherwise, they can be configured simultaneously on the platform PF.
Such systems correspond to systems or machines that are commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cpartition machinesxe2x80x9d. Normally they make it possible to install and execute different operating activities Ai simultaneously or successively in different perimeters of the platform. Nevertheless, such systems are not capable at present of allowing a user to restart the same activity in a perimeter other than the perimeter in which it was executed initially. Thus, for example, if the user seeks to restart activity A1, not in perimeter P1, but in perimeter P2, then the data recorded in the event log by the activity A1 while being executed on the perimeter P1 is lost. The event log of perimeter P1 is recorded in working memories that are local to the perimeter P1 and it is not accessible from perimeter P2. This loss of information on transfer of an activity from an original perimeter to a destination perimeter can lead to the activity functioning wrongly when it is executed on the new perimeter.
The invention seeks to remedy that drawback by proposing a method of managing a perimeter event log that is capable of allowing the same operating activity to be restarted on a perimeter other than the perimeter on which it was executed initially.
The invention thus provides a method as defined above for managing a personal event log containing events recorded by an operating activity, the method comprising:
while an activity is saving an event, a step of recording the event in a common event log together with an identifier of the activity that is saving the event; and
prior to an activity consulting its personal event log, a step of reconstructing the personal event log from the common event log, said reconstruction step including an operation of selecting from the common event log only those events which are associated with the identifier of the activity in order to include those events in the personal event log reconstructed for said activity.
In the above-described method, regardless of the perimeter on which an activity is restarted, the events recorded by said activity in the log during earlier execution on another perimeter are not lost. The events recorded by the activity are recorded in association with an identifier of said activity in a common event log which is accessible from all of the configured or configurable perimeters on the platform. Thus, even if the activity is restarted subsequently on another perimeter different from the perimeter on which it was being executed beforehand, it still has access to the common event log. In addition, since the events it recorded in the common event log are associated with its own identifier, it is possible to select and return to said activity only those events which concern it, i.e. only those events which it has itself recorded. As a result, with respect to an event registered by or for an activity in the common event journal, it does not matter whether said activity is executed on one particular perimeter or on another.
According to other characteristics of a method of managing an event log in accordance with the invention:
the computer hardware resources of perimeters are capable of generating events, and the method further comprises a step of recording in the common event log an event that has been generated by a computer hardware resource together with an identifier of the resource that has caused the event, and the step of reconstructing a personal event log specific to an activity further includes an operation of selecting from the common event log only those events which are associated with the identifier of a computer hardware resource contained in the perimeter on which said activity is being executed in order to include those events in the personal event log reconstructed for said activity;
while an activity is saving an event, the method further comprises a step of recording in the common event log a scope attribute associated with said event and specifying the activities which are authorized to consult said event and/or the perimeters from which activities are authorized to consult said event, and the step of reconstructing a personal event log specific to an activity further includes an operation of selecting from the common event log only those events which are associated with a scope attribute authorizing said event to be consulted by the activity being executed and/or from the perimeter on which said activity is being executed in order to include those events in the personal event log reconstructed for said activity; and
the method further comprises:
while an activity is sending an instruction to modify at least one event in its personal event log, a step of recording in a file said instruction in association with an identifier of the activity, which file is accessible by the activity from all of the perimeters of the platform; and
prior to an activity consulting its personal event log, a step of executing the modification instruction applied to the personal event log as reconstructed for said activity during the reconstruction step.
The invention also provides a system for managing a personal event log specific to an operating activity while it is being executed, the system comprising:
a multiple-cell computer platform;
a management tool suitable for defining computer hardware resource perimeters and for activating said perimeters on the platform simultaneously or in succession, each perimeter comprising one or more calculation cells; and
means for storing operating activities, each operating activity comprising at least one operating system suitable for managing the computer resources of the perimeter on which the activity is to be executed;
the system further comprising:
a memory containing a common event log suitable for storing the events recorded by all of the operating activities;
a module for recording events in the common event log, said events being generated by each operating activity and being associated with an identifier of the activity causing the event to be saved; and
a reconstruction module for reconstructing a personal event log specific to an operating activity from a common event log, the reconstruction module including a selection submodule for selecting from the common event log only those events which are associated with the identifier of said operating activity in order to include those events in the personal event log reconstructed for said activity.
According to other characteristics of a system for managing an event log in accordance with the invention:
the personal event log specific to an operating activity contains events recorded by the computer hardware resources of the perimeter on which the activity is being executed, and the system further comprises a module for recording in the common event log an event generated by a computer hardware resource of the perimeter in association with an identifier of said resource, and the module for reconstructing a personal event log specific to an activity further comprises a submodule for selecting from the common event log only those events which are associated with an identifier of a computer hardware resource contained in the perimeter on which said activity is being executed, in order to include those events in the personal event log reconstructed for said activity;
the system further comprises a module for saving in the common event log a scope attribute associated with each event and specifying the activities which are authorized to consult said event and/or the perimeters from which the activities are authorized to consult said event, and the module for reconstructing a personal event log specific to an activity further comprises a submodule for selecting from the common event log only those events which are associated with a scope attribute that authorizes said event to be consulted by the activity being executed and/or from the perimeter on which the activity is being executed in order to include those events in the personal event log reconstructed for said activity; and
the system also comprises:
a recording module for recording instructions to modify at least one event in the personal event log specific to an activity, said recording module being suitable for recording in the memory said modification instructions in association with an identifier of the activity that has generated the instruction; and
a module for executing modification instructions recorded by an activity in the memory, said modification instructions being applied to the personal event log reconstructed for said activity by the reconstruction module.
The invention also provides a memory for storing information for use in a system of the invention for managing a personal event log, the memory containing a common event log containing a list of events saved by a plurality of different operating activities, each of said events being associated with an identifier for the activity which saved it.
According to other characteristics of an information storage memory in accordance with the invention:
the common event log also contains a list of events saved by computer hardware resources contained in perimeters, each of said events being associated with an identifier of the computer hardware resource that saved it; and
the common event log contains a scope attribute associated with each saved event, said scope attribute indicating the activities which are authorized to consult said event and/or the perimeters from which activities are authorized to consult the event.